The Washington Capitals kept a potential future captain around for the long haul recently. Washington signed forward Tom Wilson to a seven-year contract extension that begins next summer. With these negotiations out of the way, Wilson now turns his attention toward the 2023-24 season.

The Capitals forward faced the media for the first time since signing his new deal on Monday. During his media availability, he made one thing abundantly clear: he is itching to bring the Capitals back to their previous playoff form.

“We're excited. We're hungry to get back at it and get this moving back in the right direction and show the culture of what it is to be a Cap and that's winning games, that's playing hard, that's making it hard for teams to come into our building,” Wilson said, via NHL.com.

This past season saw Washington play below their usual standard. In fact, they missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs altogether in 2023. That just won't do for Wilson and his Capitals teammates, who want playoff hockey once again in 2024.

“We built that for a long time. You talk to other players around the League, they're like, ‘Hey, we knew when we came into D.C. our chances weren't good.' That's what we've got to get back to,” Wilson continued, via NHL.com.

Wilson's 2022-23 season was limited to just 33 games this past season. He scored 13 goals and 21 points in those games, however. Let's see if a healthy Tom Wilson can help propel the Washington Capitals back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024.